Tata Tele surges 9% on BSE

Tata Teleservices Maharashtra today surged as much as nine per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange, a day after Tata Teleservices, in partnership with Japanese firm NTT DoCoMo, announced the launch of its GSM services.

Shares of Tata Teleservices Maharashtra (TTML), the listed entity of telecom operator Tata Teleservices, opened firm on the bourses and witnessed a high of Rs 39.95, up 8.56 per cent over previous close.

A similar movement was witnessed on the National Stock Exchange where the scrip gained 8.42 per cent to touch a high of Rs 39.90. Over 1.11 crore shares changed hands on both the bourses.

The company said the GSM service by TTML, to be branded 'Tata-DoCoMo', would be commercially rolled out towards the end of this month in the southern region, followed by western and northern regions and would invest $ two billion by this fiscal to roll out operations across India.

NTT DoCoMo, which acquired a 26 per cent stake in Tata Teleservices for $2.7 billion last year, said yesterday that the company has no plans to raise
its stake in the Indian joint venture.

Tata DoCoMo has received licences to operate GSM telecom services in 19 telecom circles and has also been allotted spectrum in 18 of these circles, barring Assam, North East, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi.